Cheap food comes at a price

In Ann Arbor, an apple at a local supermarket costs, on average, less than a dollar. At Kroger, you can purchase a standard Gala apple for just 70 cents — 90 cents if you choose to go organic. We have come to view food, like apples, merely as commodities with a price tag. 

In America’s increasingly industrialized agricultural system, food is intrinsically linked to its price. Behind each price and product, however, is a much more nuanced and layered history. Before arriving on the shelves of a local supermarket, each product must travel through the winding labyrinth that is the modern agri-food system. Defined as the complete journey of a product from farm to fork, the agri-food system accounts for the growing, processing, transportation, purchasing, eating and disposal of food. It is a long process, taking anywhere from weeks to months and spanning thousands of miles. 

An average piece of fresh produce will travel more than 1,500 miles just to sit for days, or even weeks, before being consumed. Considering the costs incurred at each step of the agri-food system for each piece of produce, the 70 cent price tag on a Michigan apple begins to appear quite impressive. The food logistics market alone was recorded to be a $128 billion industry at the end of 2023. This realization prompts the following question: Just how much are these hidden costs of production, and who is paying for them?

$12.7 trillion: This is what the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations tallied the hidden costs of America’s agri-food systems to be in a 2023 report. In keeping prices low for consumers at retail, $12.7 trillion in costs become dispersed at different points along the production chain. These costs are being paid primarily by the environment, by the health of consumers and by the thousands of farmers and low-wage migrant workers who are exploited en-masse in an effort to keep prices low. Exploitation and suffering have infiltrated almost every step of the modern agri-food system, inducing latent, ethical costs that remain hauntingly invisible on grocery store receipts. 

The production of a single apple emits roughly 0.1 pounds of carbon — not a lot, when considered in isolation. However — given that the average apple tree yields 1,500 apples, and there are an estimated 170 million apple trees in the U.S., — that single apple becomes a part of a much larger problematic system. And that system is responsible for something like 11.5 million tons of carbon emissions annually for apple production alone. 

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that agriculture currently accounts for about one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. The consequences of industrialized agriculture have seeped into all facets of the environment. The ever-growing demand for arable land has caused agricultural expansion to become the leading cause of global deforestation, accounting for about 80% of deforesting operations. This, in turn, has led to extreme threats to biodiversity and destruction to global carbon sinks. Climate change is estimated to cost $38 trillion per year due to natural disasters and destruction of property. And with industrial agriculture being one of the leading causes behind it, the cost of seemingly innocuous supermarket produce suddenly stretches far beyond its attached price tag.

Beyond the environmental costs, the health-related costs of industrial agriculture appear even more nefarious. Monoculture farming — a practice that involves cultivating a single type of crop in large plots of land — necessitates heavy pesticide and herbicide use. These chemical products have not only been identified as carcinogens, but they have been attributed to a variety of adverse health effects, ranging from DNA damage to severe disruption to hormone and endocrine systems.

For some of these pesticides, ingesting a single ounce would be fatal. Yet, about one billion pounds of these chemicals continue to be used on U.S. crops annually. A recent study found that more than 90% of Americans have pesticides in their bodies. Returning again to the example of apples, these fruits in particular are a part of the dirty dozen — a list of the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables. Along with dozens of other pesticides, the majority of apples in supermarkets are heavily sprayed with chlorpyrifos, a pesticide that was originally developed for chemical warfare use by the Nazis during World War II.

All of these issues disproportionately affect marginalized populations. Climate change, pesticide exposure and other nutritional and health-related issues have historically impacted low-income communities and communities of color more than others. Additionally, the U.S. agricultural system heavily relies on migrant labor, with undocumented immigrants making up nearly half of all farmworkers in the U.S. Not only are these individuals exposed to toxic pesticides and chemicals on a daily basis, but they are also chronically underpaid. Michigan currently has an estimated 50,000 migrant farm workers, many of whom are hired specifically for apple season. 

All of these details remain chillingly hidden in the 70 cent cost of a supermarket apple. Now, more than ever, our food has become a mystery to us. The shiny products and packaging that line the shelves of our supermarkets conceal a much more disturbing reality. They disguise a complex web of harmful effects that have been enabled by the ever-increasing disconnect that consumers experience between the locale of food production and its consumption. 

An apple is just one small example of this phenomenon. An analysis of many of our markets’ processed foods, such as artificially sweetened cereals or candy bars, would likely reveal an even more complicated system of injury. As apple season continues in Michigan throughout October and November, I encourage you to support local, sustainable growers and maybe even stop by one of the state’s dozens of cider mills. Other options for supporting local and sustainable agriculture near campus include Argus Farm Stop, with locations on both Packard and Liberty streets, as well as the UM Farm Stand — a mobile stand offering fresh produce every Thursday from 12-3 p.m. at the south end of Ingalls Mall now through mid-November. 

Ultimately, these decisions to shop locally and sustainably are not only important for reasons of physical health but also for the health of local economies and the planet. Every small choice we make at the supermarket has an unseen cost, be it environmental, social or health-related. We must ask ourselves, accordingly: What price are we willing to pay?  

Tate Moyer is an Opinion Analyst from Los Angeles. She writes about digital culture and technology and can be reached at moyert@umich.edu.

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